Got your token yet? All set up but dreading the work needed to replicate your on-premises database structure to the cloud? Sure the simple “kick-the-tires” scenario with one or two tables isn’t too hard, but something like AdventureWorks might have you both kicking and screaming. Well there’s help on the way!

Check out the SQL Azure Migration Wizard on CodePlex. It’s hot off the presses (read: Alpha release) but takes some of the grunt work out of replicating your schema to the cloud. It’s pretty simple to use, just select your server, database, and tables (along with a few options on what you want generated – like foreign keys, default values, etc.) and the wizard will create a script compatible with SQL Azure. You have the option to output the script to a window or file, and even execute it directly against SQL Azure.

As you can read from the project description, there’s some configuration options and caveats (since not everything can be translated automatically – lack of support for CLR types like HierarchyID, for instance, requires manual intervention.) Keep in mind too that this is tool for replicating the schema NOT the data.

Give it a shot, and give the guys who put this out there some feedback. Remember too, CodePlex is open source, so if you don’t like what it does or have some great ideas for enhancing it, jump right in!